I will be providing an analysis of Etihad Airline’s alliance, which some might consider to be a fraud.  I will be also sharing my experience with their awful customer service.

I have slogged through 16 years of being an “elite” flier on United Airlines. I have racked up over 1,400,000 plus miles. It hasn’t been easy. It has been a love-hate relationship. UAL loves to hate me with dozens of canceled flights and scores of delayed flights. The cherry on top, three emergency landings with UAL, one time being welcomed by ambulances and fire trucks upon landing as I took the crash position. Mesh these difficulties with atrocious customer service and you have a poor combination.

The final straw took place this year. I needed a one-way ticket from Yerevan to Chicago (EVN-ORD). As I strolled through Kayak I noted UAL’s option was over $3,000. Ouch. I viewed the list again and saw that Etihad Airways was under $700. UAL was simply not worth $2,300 extra.

For the last several years, I have often read about the excellent airlines (Emirates, Qatar, and Etihad) in the Middle East. The vast majority of my flights are international and maybe it was time for me to enjoy the comforts of these 5 star airlines. In fact, Etihad was rated Worlds Top Ten Airlines by Skytrax. No domestic airlines qualified for this list. While Etihad in not a member of the Big Three (Star Alliance, One World, Sky Team), they crafted their own alliance numbering over 30 partners. This sounded like a great combination. Lower prices. A top-ten airline. A giant alliance. Sign me up!

Etihad Fraud

Unfortunately over the following several months I realized I had been duped. Etihad’s alliance is a farce and their customer service is truly horrific (it even made me miss the representatives from UAL).

Is Etihad’s Alliance A Fraud?

There are three major alliances in the industry.

Star Alliance (UAL and 26 other airlines), One World (AA and 14 other airlines), and Sky Team (Delta and 19 other airlines). The concept and benefit of these alliances is seamless travel among the alliance and the ability to access numerous destinations. For instance, Star Alliance covers 193 countries! The other major benefit is your status is honored throughout the alliance. In other words, if you are a Gold Member on UAL, you will be considered Gold on the other 26 airlines in Star Alliance. And finally, you can earn miles and credit throughout the alliance. For international travelers, this is a major convenience and benefit.

While performing my due diligence I quickly learned Etihad had an independent streak. It was not part of any of these alliances. In fact they created their own alliance of three major alliances  , including major airlines like AirBerlin and American Airlines. This sounded like a perfect solution.

I was to learn too quickly that all airline alliances are not created equally. In fact, after a couple of months of flying Etihad, I realized the benefits that I had typically enjoyed with traditional alliances like Star Alliance simply did not exist with Etihad. Only with the two Preferred Partners did you enjoy the equivalent Gold Status that I enjoyed on Etihad. The two Preferred Partners are Air Serbia and Air Seychelles. For the other 23 partners, I realized virtually no Gold benefits. In short, the Etihad alliance is a farce.

Guess what? Most people are not taking advantage of Etihad’s Preferred Partner Air Serbia. But the partners such as AirBerlin or American Airlines with the massive routes are not honoring the status of Etihad Gold customers. Why bother with Etihad’s alliance if you do not receive the benefits?

Here are several experiences I encountered when flying with Etihad’s “alliance”.

Air Berlin (Etihad partner)

I flew Air Berlin from Berlin to Chicago using my Etihad Gold Status membership.

1 Was charged an extra fee to choose an aisle in economy

2 Was not allowed access to the Lounge

3 Was not allowed to check in at the Gold desk

4 Was not allowed to board the plane with the Gold customers

Aegean Airlines (Etihad partner)

I purchased a ticket on Etihad’s website. Bangkok to Athens with a connection in Abu Dhabi. In Abu Dhabi I transferred to the code share Aegean Airlines for the final leg.

1 Was not allowed to access to the Lounge

2 Was not allowed to board the plane with the Gold customers

Air Berlin/ S7 (Etihad partners)

I flew from Reykjavík to Yerevan with connections via Berlin and Moscow. The first two legs were on Air Berlin and the third leg was on S7.

1 Was not allowed to board with Gold customers

2 Was not provided with preferred seating

3 Did not earn miles/credit on the third leg on S7 from Moscow to Yerevan

In short, if you are a status flier and you want to enjoy the benefits of your status across the alliance, please consider different airlines besides Etihad. Etihad will definitely disappoint you with their “alliance”.

Service

Shame on me.

Pearl Business Class

This is how business class customers are treated?

If the business does not want you as a customer, just imagine the service you will receive after you become a customer. The writing was on the wall. I contacted Etihad to see if they would honor my Gold Status on United Airlines.

It took Etihad 5 days to respond to my two inquiries. Their response directed me to contact another department at Etihad. Unfortunately, the email did not include a phone number or email for this contact. After two more emails, and 3 more days, they responded back with a phone number. After 25 days, I was awarded Gold Status on Etihad. It took 23 emails and 7 phone calls. Sirens and warning bells!

This atrociously poor service during the “sales cycle” was an indicator of future awful service. I should have known better.

Gold Packet

It took Etihad 90 days to send out my Welcome Packet. I am not sure why Etihad finds it so difficult to mail a package to their customers. While emailing a representative in their Chicago office for a 2nd time after a 10 day period, her response was she was a “new joiner” to Etihad and that is why she did not respond to my email. I was surprised to learn that Etihad needed to train their representatives to respond to emails whether new or old employees.

Getting Confused

The more I started to fly Etihad the more questions I started to have. All of the services and benefits I was expecting were not coming to fruition. I started to email Etihad with my service questions. At this point, I mailed a letter to the CEO of Etihad with my list of questions and concerns. Etihad responded by having 3 separate individuals contact me via email. None were able to answer simple questions. After 2 more weeks of emails I received this response.

“We apologize for the confusion caused. We deem it best to explain to you the reason on phone. Please let us know when you will be back in the US and your availability to be contacted in order for us to clarify the situation”

Etihad lounge

Was never allowed in

I thought it was a bit odd that Etihad did not employ anyone who was competent enough to respond to my questions via email but I decided to humor them.

Upon returning to the US, I contacted them and asked for my phone call. After 20 emails requesting the phone call that they asked for since email was too complicated for them, I received an email from Mohamed Kamil, a Guest Relations Officer From the time of my request to receiving the email, 27 days had elapsed.

Mr Kamil started the letter with “due to the time zone difference I am unable to call thus my email”. I thought it quite odd, that Etihad that operates over 1000 flights a week (including the US) might have been able to figure out how to call a customer in the US during business hours. Even more frustrating is that Mr. Kamil was unaware of my situation and included multiple inaccuracies in his letter.

So to recap. I attempted to have my questions answered via email. This was too complicated for Etihad who requested a phone call. When I requested the phone call (20 email requests), a month elapses, and I receive an email response.

At this point out of frustration, I continue to email Etihad. I ask them for the phone call that they requested back in mid-October.

At this point, Etihad had no intention to calling me. (I assume I am on sort of blacklist at the airline with my frequent emails)  Over a six week period I emailed them 14 times requesting my phone call.  The below is the response I received every time.

Thank you for taking the time to contact Etihad Guest Service Centre.

Apologize for the inconvenience.

With reference to your correspondence, we have forwarded your concerns to our Guest Affairs team who will conduct an investigation and reply to you as soon as possible.

If you wish to contact Guest Affairs directly, please do so at: feedback@etihad.ae

We look forward to welcoming you as our guest in the future.

Finally, in mid-January, Etihad informs me that they will not call me or even address my issues going forward. They consider it case closed.

Date 18 January 2015

Your original letter outlined areas of our service that you were unhappy with and for that we have apologised.

In light of the foregoing we draw this case to a conclusion and now regard this matter as closed. We therefore ask that you cease further communication on the matter as we will no longer be in a position to correspond further. 

Thank you for your understanding.

Sincerely,

Mohamed Kamil

Guest Relations Officer

My final thoughts. I had read for years about the awards and accolades that Etihad had received. I yearned for the 5 star service. I have drawn two conclusions.  First, their alliance does not stack up to the Big 3 (Star Alliance, OneWorld, SkyTeam).  Your status on Etihad is not honored on Etihad’s partners like it is on the Big 3.  It is an alliance in name only.  Second, their customer service skills are greatly lacking.  Basic skills such as replying to emails or answering questions are beyond the skill set of many Etihad employes.  So, as a flying customer, if you consider these attributes to be necessary, you might want to consider another airline.

To learn about another poor experience on Etihad Airlines, please check out With Husband In Tow’s challenge with Etihad.  

 Note: Upon being made aware of this article, Etihad offered me 10,000 miles which I declined.

 

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